When I get up in the morning, I head downstairs to make the coffee, open the blinds, get the newspaper, organize my breakfast (normally cereal and blueberries) and turn on “Squawk Box.” When Donna comes down – if it’s after 7:00 a.m. – we turn on the “Today” show. Before I open the newspaper, I usually check my Fitbit sleep score, take a few sips of coffee and settle back to do Wordle.

I suspect most folks have heard of Wordle — the New York Times word puzzle to guess a 5 letter word in no more than 6 attempts. The Wordle prototype was first developed in 2013 by a Welsh software engineer – Josh Wardle. On January 31, 2022, the New York Times acquired Wordle from Wardle (say that three times real fast) for a “low seven figure” amount. On November 1, 2021, there were 90 players. On January 2, 2022, there were 300,000 – and one week later there were over two million!

For me Wordle is a way to get my small brain activated in the a.m. The game usually takes me two or three minutes. So far, my statistics show 882 games played, a maximum streak of 86 and a win percentage of 97%. My first word usually contains 3 vowels (“Radio” “Ratio” “Raise” or “Ocean”) though occasionally I enter a quirky pick. I’ve never gotten it in one guess – but I have 41 in two (one was “Acorn” after entering “Ocean”); 210 in three; and 332 in four. I have “lost” (not done it in 6 or less guesses) 23 times. If you’ve never done it – give it a whirl. I mean wordle. . . .